Sitting beside Michael on a bed was nothing new. Fully clothed, a little less likely but not unusual.
It was the guy holding a small digital camera, plus three other men and one woman who were standing in the hotel room that really made the experience surreal. Despite having her most intimate moment broadcast for the entire Internet to see before, she’d never had an actual crowd in the bedroom.
Michael reached over and squeezed her hand. “You nervous?”
“I’m… a lot of things.” Nervous, guilty, freaked out, guilty… Had she mentioned guilty? “Just want to do whatever’s best for you.”
“Us.” He pecked her cheek, nuzzling a little. Her face flushed at the realization that people were watching even if the camera was—they swore—not on yet. “This is what’s best for us. Simon can be a jackass, but he’s good at what he does.”
“I hadn’t had a chance to run this by Sawyer,” she warned.
“Sawyer’s not an issue. We’re both getting new representation.”
That made her blink and pull back. “I’m sorry, what?”
“He didn’t trust you. Didn’t believe in you.” Michael cupped her cheek. “Baby, that’s not a guy in your corner.”
Right, well… she’d always suspected that. Fear of the unknown had kept her with the guy and because he was a good negotiator. But… “He’s your agent too, Michael. You’ve had a good run with him.” Something clicked, and she gasped, pain striking her gut. “Oh my God, he dumped you because of me.”
“No, I dumped him because of how he talked about you. I’m not going to do business with a guy who talks about my girlfriend like that.”
Her eyes teared up, and she blinked furiously to keep from ruining the makeup the woman had spent twenty minutes on, in an effort to look fresh and na?ve. Frankly, she thought that looking fresh and na?ve would have required less makeup, but she wasn’t the professional in that regard.
“Okay.” The man Michael had introduced as Simon, the brainchild behind the video, clapped his hands. “We’re doing this in one take, and remember, ad-libbing is fine, but don’t ramble. We want this to be under ninety seconds. Stats currently show past that time frame, people drop off. We want it to be seen. Stick close to the script, but work on making it feel candid.”
Kat felt like a bobblehead with her nodding so much. Michael just stroked her back and gave one decisive nod of his own.
Suddenly she realized just how much trouble he was going through to be with her. To fight against the past she’d suffered through, and the reputation she’d created willfully. And she knew she couldn’t let another minute pass without telling him.
“And… action.”
She turned to him, just as he took a breath to speak his opening line, she said, “I love you.”
That took the wind out of him, and he turned sharply toward her. “What?”
“Okay, cut.” Simon snorted in disgust. “Five minutes, everyone. Five,” he emphasized toward them on the bed, waving everyone toward the hallway. The door closed behind them.
And Michael asked again, “What?”
“I just…” She could dance on a bar top, karaoke with the world watching, and do a samba with a bobcat… but she couldn’t look him in the eye for all the gold in the national Treasury. Picking at the bedspread, she said, “I had to tell you before we started the video. I love you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in, not caring that their clothes were wrinkling, that her fresh, na?ve makeup was probably smearing over his shirt, that the bedspread was going to look like they’d invited a party of monkeys to roll around on it.
“Thank God,” he breathed by her ear. “I love you too.”
“I know. You told me,” she said, trying to lighten the mood, but his arms just tightened around her. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it earlier. It just felt weird over the phone, and I needed to see you first.”
“I get it. I sort of blurted it out before, didn’t I?”
“I won’t complain. Well, maybe a little,” she added, feeling her lips quirk up on their own. His smile was one of chagrin. “But only when I’m being annoying.”
“Which is often.”
“It’s part of my charm,” she argued.
“Probably. I must be nuts, wanting to be saddled with you,” he murmured.
“How did this happen so fast?” she asked quietly. “Three weeks…”
“Lightning hits fast, babe. When it does…” He blew out a breath. “I think love at first sight is a little bogus. But love at first meeting… there’s something to it. I should have known I loved you the first minute I missed your irritating presence.”
She leaned out and nipped his lower lip for the pseudo-insult. He prodded at the hurt with his tongue, one brow raised in silent, mocking disapproval.
“You love it.”
“I love you,” he corrected, kissing her. “I don’t care how fast this happened. I care how long it’s going to last. And baby, this is going the distance.”